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So a funny little quirk cropped up when I was crafting my B-ball themed Kineticist. I took a rank in Profession: Merchant to order to represent the sponsorship deals baked into his backstory. All the better to name drop his masterwork shoe brand! His other tanks went into a mix of useful and flavorful things,like Perception and Acrobatics.
The problem is that he's kind of a terrible merchant. He has no way to woo a client (Diplomacy/Bluff), avoid being ripped off (Appraise/Sense Motive), and he has no market know-how (Knowledge Local, Nobility, etc) at all. And yet, according to the rules, he can make a decent merchant during downtime.
I presume that other professions like Detective, Doctor and other complicated fields might raise similar questions.
So what do you guys think? Ever struggle to justify a profession or craft on a character that lacks related skills? Have you rewritten a concept to cover your grounds? Or do you have an "unskilled" character who can somehow wing it in the field?
B-ball themed?
....is he a tele that uses mage hand to float the ball into the net?
The thing with profession checks is that it includes all details that are involved with your profession. I know that it explcitly works with questions (in a fashion similar to knowledge checks), but only relating to your profession.
So basically, it is in fact a mix of diplomacy, appraise, sense motive, and knowledge... just restrained to the HIGHLY specialized circumstances of your profession. Thus, it is both expansive and insanely limited.
You would be better off if you had the appropriate social and other support skills though. Diplomacy, for instance, can be used to smooze adn build up connections in general, which can be more helpful down the line (ie- helps you fill out for book of contacts to call up when you have a plan). And that can often be vital. And knowledge (local/nobility) can help you to pick better targets for your efforts. I doubt appraise is too much of an issue (although someone might make shoddy shoes for your endorsement deal, and appraise would tell you that they explode).
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B-ball, or the full name, Boulder Ball. A sport of Orcish origin that was adapted by his home town. Charles Barkleaf's Geokinesis comes from a deeply entrenched faith of oneness with the ball, most commonly expressed by dunking on people with Kenetic Blade Ball.
The lack of social skills on the class sorts bugs me, but mostly because he's in PFS and you never know when no one at the table will have face skills. Still, I enjoy the idea of an athlete who doesn't have many people skills but pushes product placement through sheer force of will and letting his talents speak for him.
Charles Barkleaf
The hero Golarion deserves.
'Boots of Striding and Springing. They'll let you be almost as awesome as me. Almost.'
(Edit, forgot actual content:)
That said, I can kind'a see that being what he does. Other social skills will help, of course, but Profession: Merchant would cover the idea of hawking his wares. (For making them, that's Craft (shoemaking), and there's a couple of feats to let you make those Air Golarions..)
I think it's a little better than forcing someone in that position to need to rank up Diplomacy and Sense Motive and Appraise and Perform to do the job, especially with how valuable skill points normally tend to be. Skills can be a little flexible depending on your GM. Naturally, there are limits -- as my GM noted, Craft (weapon) is not going to really overlap with Craft (glassblowing). 'Well, I'm out of ideas ... '